Lubrication of machinery



Patented May M, 1921.

LBW/660 ill revolving shaft and the UNITED STATES JOSEPH WALWYN WHITE, OF WIDNES, ENGLAND.

LUBBIGA'I'ION OF MACHINERY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 10, 1921.

Application filed May 29, 1920. Serial No. 385,305.

To all whom it my concern Be it known that I, J osnrn WALWYN Wm'm, subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Widnes, in the countg of Lancaster and Kingdom of England, ave invented certain new and useful Improvements in and Relating to the Lubrication of Machinery, of which the, following is a specification.

The present invention relates to improvements in the lubrication of the bearing surfaces of machinery.

In bearings under heavy pressure, it is sometimes difiicult to maintain an effective film of oil between movin parts such as a xed bush of the bearing, as the pressure on the shaft squeezes the oil away from between the two bearing surfaces and owing to the tightness of the fitting between the shaft and the bearing, it is difficult to get the film of oil back again between the two surfaces.

According to the present invention one or more grooves of extremely flat V section or ratchet section are cut in one or both of the bearing parts of a machine, to present an inclined plane, in one or both directions of motion.-- As applied to a rotating shaft, a shallow groove is out either on the gearing surface of the shaft or on the exterior cylindrical surface of the journal or on both of these surfaces, one of the sides of which grooves in the bearing are tangential to the periphery of the shaft. Such arrangements are distinct from the arrangement of radial grooves of wedge shaped cross section to retain lubricant which has been applied to collar or step bearings, or shafts rotating constantly in one direction of motion.

Under the influence of the moving parts such as a revolving shaft, lubricant is drawn along each inclined plane into the adjacent bearing surface and there forms an effective film of lubricant acting something like rows of minute roller bearings, between each of the separate bearing portions of the bearing itself, and by the time the film of oil has been forced out of the space between the bearin surfaces of shaft and bearing, a fresh lm will have been drawn in from an adjacent inclined plane trough.

It is true that by this arrangement the actual load bearing surface in the bearing is reduced, as compared with a full surface plain bearing but the advantage gained by The present invention is more particularly described with reference to the accompanyindrawings in which lgure l is a diagrammatic sectional end view of a shaft in a bearing.

F g. 2 s a similar view ofa modification.

F g.3 1s a perspective view of a further modification.

In the arrangement shown in Fig. 1, troughs a are cut in the bearing 12 having sides substantially tangential to the cylindrical surfaces of the rotating shaft 0. The two side surfaces of these troughs (Z, e, may be s milar so that the arrangement will funcion in either direction of motion of the shaft a relatively to the bearing 1). In-the arrangement shown in Fig. 2, however the troughs f are arranged for one direction of rotation only and are bounded by two sur faces, one of which is tangential to the surface of the shaft while the other is radial thereto.

These troughs may be arranged spirally around the bearing if desired and may lead into annular grooves so that the lubricant Wlll not escape axially of the shaft.

In the modification shown in Fig. 3, the trough is arranged as a spiral groove 9 in the surface of the shaft itself which would then cooperate with a cylindrical uninterrup ted bearing.

he lubricant may be supplied to the trough by means of perforations running down the shaft or bearing and extending radially into the troughs so that the supply of lubricant to these is maintained.

Of course the amount of gradient or angle of the inclined surfaces would be very small, and would probably vary somewhat with the circumferentialspeed of the shaft as well as the load on it, the idea being to so regulate the angle or slope of the inclined plane as to readily draw in the oil between the bearing surfaces, and so forming a kind of forced-pressure lubrication.

Instead of putting the inclined planes in the bearing, they might be even more effective if the were put around the shaft itself, as t e oil would more readily be drawn around and into the bearing surfaces, y the positive actionof the revolvin shaft.

% declare that what I claim is 1. A lubricatin device for machinery comprising curve parts moving relatively to one another and having small grooves cut .in one of the contacting surfaces, one side of which is tangential to the curved surface with large intermediate uninterrupted surfaces supporting the load intermediate the grooves.

2. A lubricating device for machinery incyllndrical bearin eluding a rotating shaft and a journal therefor, small grooves being cut in one of the surfaces, one side of which is tangentia to-the bearing surfaces while the other side is radial thereto leavin large intermediate uninterrupted cylindrical surfaces.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name this 9th day of April, 1920, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOSEPH WALWYN WHITE.

Witnesses: H. HIRK, J. MCLACHLEN. 

